NBD Yamaha BEX4

[Maude]

Well, I've got my comeuppance! 

Lately I've been lucky enough to buy some very nice basses at some very nice prices, but my luck ran out with this BEX4. It's not so bad though as it was cheap enough and it can all be sorted. 

 

Last Friday @andy67 posted that he'd seen a blue BEX4 in Cash Converters in Edinburgh. I'd kind of low level been after a blue one for a while so jumped on it. With the bass being in Edinburgh and me in Cornwall, giving it the once over was out of the question. No biggy, Andy said it looked OK, no minter, a few scratches and needed new strings but OK, and the guy I spoke to at CC said roughly the same. In fact he said he'd just been playing and it played and sounded great.

Well it would, it's a BEX4 😉.

 

It arrived today and up close it's a bit of a dog, it's had a hard life and needs a damn good clean. Poor old thing. 

I'm undecided at the mo whether to just give it a good clean and polish and live with its roadworn state, or to go to town and fully restore/refinish it. 

It looks like someone's tried to polish the body with a brillo pad and there's plenty of dents and chips. The neck wear is quite odd with some excessive wear near the nut and loads of crescent dents up the dusty end, as if a thumb with a ring on had been curled over the top edge all the time. 

The rest is just green and grimey. 

Oh yeah, nearly forgot the strings, nicely fitted 😄. 

 

Nevermind, it was cheap enough and it will still play and sound great once cleaned and set up. 

Cosmetic plan to be decided. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With her sister. 

 

[PaulThePlug]

looks like a nice clean 'n fix upper if the price was right.

Fine wet n dry and 0000 wire wool for the neck, do you think a light slurry might help smooth the grain? and a light Danish Oil or Waxing.

 

As for the body? Blue Car T Cut type stuff, more as a cleaner! and then as is?

 

Toothpaste is a mild abrasive, maybw a light going over on the headstock.

 

Looks nice n thin, could quite fancy one of them, acoustic bridge gives it a simple look rather than going large with a stop tail or 3 point.

 

Flats?

[AndyTravis]

What a shame.

 

Clean it, let it live how it is. 
 

cool basses these - a lot seem to be mistreated though, much like the SBV samurai basses of the same era.

 

weird.

 

Anyhow - lovely looking thing.

 

would someone with a buffing wheel be able to help?

[Reggaebass]

I’d just give it a good clean and maybe treat the fingerboard, the rest looks like genuine wear,  cool bass Maude 

[Maude]

Luckily I'm in a position to either fully restore it properly myself, ie completely remove the finish and do it sunburst blue again with tinted lacquer. 

Or wet sand and compound the worst of the scratches out and live with its history. 

 

Or take everything back to bare wood and do something completely different. 

[Maude]

3 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I’d just give it a good clean and maybe treat the fingerboard, the rest looks like genuine wear,  cool bass Maude 

That's just it, it looks like it's just been a player, albeit slightly uncared for. 

A good clean and it'll just be a cosmetic issue, which can left or addressed. 

 

[jonno1981]

I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a dog based on the pics. Provided the neck is ok and there are no cracks I’d say it’s useable.
Cleanup, new strings and setup and it’ll come back to life. It’s amazing the difference a REALLY good clean can make. Polish/scrub/oil everything and I bet it comes up really well. 

[Maude]

8 minutes ago, jonno1981 said:

I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a dog based on the pics. Provided the neck is ok and there are no cracks I’d say it’s useable.
Cleanup, new strings and setup and it’ll come back to life. It’s amazing the difference a REALLY good clean can make. Polish/scrub/oil everything and I bet it comes up really well. 

Your totally right, but you've no idea how much of a perfectionist I am when it comes to finishes, it's a curse. 😁

[Maude]

My stupid head is beginning whir. I bet it would look amazing in transparent black. 🙈

[Maude]

41 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Looks nice n thin, could quite fancy one of them, acoustic bridge gives it a simple look rather than going large with a stop tail or 3 point.

 

Flats?

 

They are wonderful, wonderful basses. Fanboi? Moi? 😉

 

They're surprisingly versatile with the soapbar and an under saddle piezo, blend and volume on the front and the three band EQ. The soapbar is big and punchy and not quite what you'd expect based on its gentile looks. 

It's got a Precision like tone but with more oomph and a touch of hollow airyness. 

The only very slight stumbling block is that simple bridge, no intonation adjustment, but I haven't found it a problem. 

 

The tobacco burst one above has D'addario half rounds and sounds fantastic. With a slight mid boost of the three band EQ it absolutely slices through a mix. 

[andy67]

Geez, I just quickly looked over it and thought it was ok. Didn’t notice that much damage and those photos are quite damning. You always have the option to send it back under their warranty guarantee. Saying that though, a restored natural bex would look amazing. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by andy67

[Maude]

1 minute ago, andy67 said:

Geez, I just quickly looked over it and thought it was ok. Didn’t notice that much damage and those photos are quite damning. You always have the option to send it back under their warranty guarantee. Saying that though, a restored natural bex would look amazing. 

In reality it's fine because of the price. I'd be annoyed if I'd payed proper money for it. 

On the plus side it's in the original Yamaha case, well I guess original as it the same as the one my other one came in (second hand as well) unless it's a huge coincidence. 

 

I've just found a couple of pictures of a natural one. Although not done too well as there's still orange paint all round the bridge. 

It looks amazing. 

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/mePixrMTGwy84wc87

[andy67]

Those look cool but your cherry burst one is lush 👍

[jezzaboy]

Some good tips for restoring a finish in here. 

 

 

[JPJ]

16 hours ago, Maude said:

Luckily I'm in a position to either fully restore it properly myself, ie completely remove the finish and do it sunburst blue again with tinted lacquer. 

Or wet sand and compound the worst of the scratches out and live with its history. 

 

Or take everything back to bare wood and do something completely different. 

Blue'bursts always look cool to me. Nice and dark (almost black) around the edges fading to the current original colour in the centre 🥰

[Maude]

In for a penny! 

 

Turquoise BEX4 anyone? 😁

 

[AndyTravis]

Aww. Shame,  I’m sure you’re better informed of what it needed than me - sad to see that dark blue go ☹️

[Maude]

This is now make it up as you go along. 😁

 

Or if I want to look clever then the wood is talking to me and letting know what it wants.😄

 

I'd never have been happy with the original cleaned up. Sure there's ways to disquise a lot of the damage but that's exactly the problem, I'd still see it. 

 

The turquoise is the blue basecoat that has stained into the flame laminate. To fully remove the blue staining, including in the dents, I have rubbed through the laminate. It was always a risk, it just depended on the how thick a laminate they used. The answer is very, very thin. 

So I'm now sanding the laminate off and see what we're left with. 

If it hasn't got a good natural grain then I reckon a sparkle finish might be on the cards. Or something equally crazy. 😉

 

 

 

[AndyTravis]

7 minutes ago, Maude said:

This is now make it up as you go along. 😁

 

Or if I want to look clever then the wood is talking to me and letting know what it wants.😄

 

I'd never have been happy with the original cleaned up. Sure there's ways to disquise a lot of the damage but that's exactly the problem, I'd still see it. 

 

The turquoise is the blue basecoat that has stained into the flame laminate. To fully remove the blue staining, including in the dents, I have rubbed through the laminate. It was always a risk, it just depended on the how thick a laminate they used. The answer is very, very thin. 

So I'm now sanding the laminate off and see what we're left with. 

If it hasn't got a good natural grain then I reckon a sparkle finish might be on the cards. Or something equally crazy. 😉

 

 

 

think of classic gretsch…

 

Cadillac Green Metallic. Finish the back of the neck too 😜

[JPJ]

6 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

think of classic gretsch…

 

Cadillac Green Metallic. Finish the back of the neck too 😜

^ THIS 😍

[AndyTravis]

[Maude]

Slow down, slow down! 😂

That would look amazing though. 

 

You can see just how thin the flame maple veneer is in this picture. The blue stain is impossible to completely remove leaving the veneer intact. 

 

On the plus side, if you look closely at the natural wood you can see some quilting coming through. This is only sanded with 120 so a any grain will only get better with subsequent finer sandings and a finish, if it stays as some sort of trans finish. 

 

Who knows, I need to contemplate. 😁

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Maude

[AndyTravis]

Might seem a bit too common…but goldtop like a Jack Casady?

 

hmm. World is your oyster 😌

[mcnach]

On 21/04/2022 at 19:54, Maude said:

Well, I've got my comeuppance! 

Lately I've been lucky enough to buy some very nice basses at some very nice prices, but my luck ran out with this BEX4. It's not so bad though as it was cheap enough and it can all be sorted. 

 

Last Friday @andy67 posted that he'd seen a blue BEX4 in Cash Converters in Edinburgh. I'd kind of low level been after a blue one for a while so jumped on it. With the bass being in Edinburgh and me in Cornwall, giving it the once over was out of the question. No biggy, Andy said it looked OK, no minter, a few scratches and needed new strings but OK, and the guy I spoke to at CC said roughly the same. In fact he said he'd just been playing and it played and sounded great.

Well it would, it's a BEX4 😉.

 

It arrived today and up close it's a bit of a dog, it's had a hard life and needs a damn good clean. Poor old thing. 

I'm undecided at the mo whether to just give it a good clean and polish and live with its roadworn state, or to go to town and fully restore/refinish it. 

It looks like someone's tried to polish the body with a brillo pad and there's plenty of dents and chips. The neck wear is quite odd with some excessive wear near the nut and loads of crescent dents up the dusty end, as if a thumb with a ring on had been curled over the top edge all the time. 

The rest is just green and grimey. 

Oh yeah, nearly forgot the strings, nicely fitted 😄. 

 

Nevermind, it was cheap enough and it will still play and sound great once cleaned and set up. 

Cosmetic plan to be decided. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With her sister. 

 

 

Very nice, despite the signs of cosmetic wear!

I only found out about this one after you already had expressed an interest, otherwise I would have gone to check it out in person myself!

But it's ok, I don't *need* another bass.

 

[LukeFRC]

On 21/04/2022 at 20:49, Maude said:

Your totally right, but you've no idea how much of a perfectionist I am when it comes to finishes, it's a curse. 😁

If it helps - for the money that looks great as you got it - and I think you are going to make it even better!